Pennsylvania Woman Sentenced to Six Months for Creating “Gothic Kittens”

"Gothic Kitty" creator Holly Crawford has been sentenced to six months of house arrest for using a 14-gauge needle to pierce the ears, necks and tails of three kittens and then attempting to sell the maimed felines over the Internet. The 35-year-old Pennsylvania woman was further ordered to close her dog grooming business for at least two years. Despite opposition from concerned citizens, the judge ruled in favor of allowing Crawford to maintain guardianship over her other pets, including a dog, three cats and three snakes.

Crawford was initially charged after a tip led humane investigators and the state police to her home on December 17, 2008. Investigators found and seized three kittens wearing heavy piercing jewelry on their ears, necks and tails. At least one of the kittens had a thick elastic band wrapped around his tail to prevent blood flow, as a means of docking it.

Despite arguments that Crawford used sterile needles and surgical soap when piercing the kittens, a Luzerne County jury found her guilty of animal cruelty. Helping to seal the conviction was expert testimony from the ASPCA's leading forensics veterinarian, Dr. Melinda Merck, who testified that the kittens had been maimed and disfigured, had their hearing damaged, and could have died.

"I was very happy to work with the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office on this case of abuse," says Dr. Merck. "The idea of mutilating animals in such a way for profit is appalling, I am glad justice was served."

If you know of an animal who is being hurt, please report it. To report animal cruelty in New York City, call the ASPCA's tip line at (877) THE-ASPCA. Visit our Report Cruelty FAQ to learn how to report cruelty elsewhere.

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This is simply awful to do this to these poor babies, and then try to make a profit out of them; how cruel. The judge should have not allowed her to have any type of animals in her possession. What makes the judge believe she won't torture another again? Bad judgment.

Communism? that may be the most foolish thing I've heard in a while - did you not read the part where a veterinarian said that the animals were disfigured and could have died...and only for cosmetic purposes?

What's wrong with it? Did the animals consent to such treatment? of course not as they can not. So they were put through the pain of piercings for cosmetic purposes only? I bet you also think it's okay to have sex with an animal as long as the animal doesn't say no.

Better not ever tag an animal for any reason (inventory control, conservation, tracking, ect) again then either because those animals didn't consent to it either. Also its akin NSA privacy invasions to track an animal without its consent too! I say we need to remove all the electronic tags from the animals because they never consented. Also we should never spay and neuter them as they didn't consent to that either!!!!!!!!

Sure they didn't consent. The difference with spaying and neutering is that it's done for the *benefit of animals*. Should my cats go ahead and breed uncontrollably, I'd eventually run out of homes for the kittens. I could then try to keep the kittens myself, but of course if I continued to refuse to spay/ neuter, I'd end up with a thousand inbred cats I'd have no resources to look after. If you look at the end result which is glaringly obvious, you can see it's in the best interest of animal kind to control their populations. If you can explain to me how having a tail piercing obviously improves the quality of life of a/ one cat b/ cats as a whole, I'll not worry about consent. But I rather doubt you can.

you shouldn't have concerns about the judge shutting down her business because what dog owner in their right minds would trust her to groom their dog after this? she put herself out of business. People CHOOSE to pierce themselves, these kittens didn't have a choice. They also don't have the self contrtol to know when they risk hurting themselves by tearing out one of the piercings when they do what cats do, play......and I'm not that big fan of cats....and isn't it odd she didn't do it to her own pets??? obviously not or she wouldn't be allowed to keep them...